A new, simple chemical etching based surface patterning method for microstructural strain mapping of Al-5754 alloy is proposed. This method reveals the grain boundaries and micro-constituents of the alloy which can serve as high contrast random dot pattern for microstructural strain calculation using digital image correlation. The suitability of the surface pattern developed by this method to accurately map the microstructural strain evolution during tensile deformation with adequate spatial resolution to address intragranular strain heterogeneities has been quantitatively assessed and demonstrated. © 2018, The Society for Experimental Mechanics, Inc.